As WTA players are saying goodbye to Muhammad Ali, Nicole Gibbs shares the outstanding moment she had with the heavyweight champion as a baby

Boxing icon Mohammad Ali died on Friday at the age of 74 and the WTA players have been paying tribute to the heavyweight champion by sharing his legendary quotes that have inspired their sports lives and careers. Nicole Gibbs, however, has a special memorabilia — a photo of Mohammad Ali holding her baby self in his arms at the airport with her family in November 1993. How cute!

And now that I’ve introduced Nicole Gibbs to my Little Tennis Stars series, I’ll share one more photo of the tennis star currently ranked at No.72, who was, according to her bio at the WTA website, introduced to tennis by father, who had her hitting in the driveway over two trash cans with a board across the top when she was two or three years old.